Treating Flu: Who Needs Antivirals, Why the First Two Days Matter, and Why Antibiotics Won't Help

Most people who get the flu have a mild illness and need neither medical care nor medicine: they should stay home and keep away from others except to get care. For some people, though, a prescription flu antiviral drug can make the illness milder and shorter, and may prevent complications such as pneumonia — if it is started early.

What antivirals are

Flu antivirals are prescription medicines — pills, liquid, an inhaled powder or an intravenous solution — that fight the flu virus in the respiratory tract. They are not sold over the counter. They are also not antibiotics.

Who should get them

CDC recommends antiviral treatment as soon as possible for anyone with flu, or suspected flu, who is at higher risk of serious complications — people with asthma, diabetes or heart disease, for example. Contact a health care provider right away if you have flu symptoms and are at higher risk, are very sick, or are worried about your illness. Most people not at higher risk don't need antivirals.

Timing

Follow your provider's instructions for taking them. For children who can't swallow capsules, oseltamivir capsules can be opened and mixed with liquid.

Antibiotics won't treat flu

Antibiotics work against bacteria, not viruses such as influenza. Taken when they aren't needed, they don't help — and their side effects can still harm, from a rash to severe allergic reactions, antimicrobial-resistant infections and C. diff, which causes diarrhea that can lead to severe colon damage and death.

When to go back out

Stay home until, for at least 24 hours, both are true:

• your symptoms are improving overall, and
• you have had no fever without using fever-reducing medicine.

After that, extra precautions can still help protect others from respiratory illness.

Sources

Based on "Treatment of Flu," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.